What do we do? What should we teach? Results from a Task Analysis of NP Practice

Nurse Practitioners (NP) perform a wide range of clinical skills and procedures.  NPs provide a variety of primary, acute, and specialty care services across the human life-span.  In our state, NPs have a high level of autonomy with no legal requirements for collaboration or supervision with physicians.  Within the context of their advanced nursing practice positions, NPs are expected to perform a number of psychomotor clinical skills and procedures during patient care encounters for diagnostic and/or therapeutic purposes.  For a variety of reasons, including primary care physician shortage, the role and expectations for NP practice has expanded, especially in rural areas where the availability of physicians in primary and specialty care is reduced.  The purpose of this presentation is to present preliminary results from a task analysis research project of our state's NP clinical skills and procedures.

 

Clinical skills and procedures used in practice are acquired either through educational venues (e.g., NP degree programs, continuing education offerings) or through “on-the-job” training.  University NP programs often offer courses that address the need for clinical skill acquisition.  The lack of established guidelines for specific skill-training requires universities to determine their own content for student learning.  Gathering information from current, practicing NPs regarding their need and use of clinical skills can help guide educators in developing evidence-based NP course content and competencies. Results of a literature review revealed a lack of articles addressing the status of clinical skills used in NP practice or education.

Presented results are from a task analysis research project of practicing NPs in Oregon that assessed the range and criticality of NP clinical skills. The apparent lack of evidence for guiding educational activities in NP skill development demonstrates the need for a more informed process. The content knowledge and psychomotor skills used and needed in clinical practice should provide the evidence for informing NP program educational curricula. This presentation will provide NP faculty with information relevant to the clinical education and skills training for developing competent nurse practitioners.